Emperor Mommu
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| Emperor Mommu | |
| 42nd Emperor of Japan | |
| Reign | The 1st Day of 8th Month of 1st year of Mommu's reign (September 7, 697) - The 15th Day of 6th Month of Keiun 4 (July 18, 707) |
|---|---|
| Coronation | The 17th Day of 8th Month of 1st year of Mommu's reign (September 23, 697) |
| Titles | 42nd Emperor of Japan Prince Karu |
| Born | (683) |
| Died | The 15th Day of 6th Month of Keiun 4 (July 18, 707) |
| Place of death | Fujiwara-kyō, Japan |
| Buried | Hinokuma no Akono-oka-no-e no Misasagi (Nara) |
| Predecessor | Empress Jitō |
| Successor | Empress Gemmei |
| Consort | unknown |
| Issue | Emperor Shōmu by Fujiwara no Miyako |
| Father | Prince Kusakabe, son of Emperor Temmu |
| Mother | Princess Abe (Empress Gemmei) |
Emperor Mommu (文武天皇 Monmu-tennō) (683-707) was the 42nd imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 697 through 707.[1]
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[edit] Genealogy
Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his imina)[2] was Karu-shinnō.[3]
He was a grandson of Emperor Temmu and Empress Jitō. He was the second son of Prince Kusakabe. Mommu's mother was Princess Abe, a daughter of Emperor Tenji. Mommu's mother would later accede to the throne herself, and she would be known as Empress Gemmei.[4]
[edit] Events of Mommu's life
Karu-shinnō was only six years old when his father, Crown Prince Kusakabe, died.
- 697: In the 10th year of Jitō-tennō's reign (持統天皇10年), the empress abdicated; and the succession (‘‘senso’’) was received by a grandson of Emperor Temmu. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Mommu is said to have acceded to the throne (‘‘sokui’’).[5]
Emperor Mommu ruled until his death in 707, at which point he was succeeded by his mother, Empress Gemmei, who was also his first cousin once removed and his first cousin twice removed. He left a young son by Fujiwara no Miyako, a daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito: Obito no miko (Prince Obito), who eventually became Emperor Shōmu.
Emperor Mommu's reign lasted 10 years. He died at the age of 25.[6]
[edit] Kugyō
Kugyō (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras.
In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career. During Mommu's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
- Daijō-Daijin, Osakabe-shinnō.[3]
- Sadaijin
- Udaijin
- Nadaijin, Nakatomi Kamako no Muraji. [7]
- Dainagon, Fujiwara Fuhito. [8]
[edit] Eras of Mommu's reign
Conventional modern scholarship seems to have determined that the years of Mommu's reign are encompassed within more than one era name or nengō.[9]
- Taihō (era) (701-704)
- Keiun (704-708)
[edit] Non-nengō period
The initial years of Mommu's reign are not linked by scholars to any era or nengō.[10] The Taika era innovation of naming time periods -- nengō -- languished until Mommu reasserted an imperial right by proclaiming the commencement of Taihō in 701.
- See Japanese era name -- "Non-nengo periods"
- See Mommu (period) (697-701).
In this context, Brown and Ishida's translation of Gukanshō offers an explanation about the years of Empress Jitō's reign which muddies a sense of easy clarity in the pre-Taiho time-frame:
-
- "The eras that fell in this reign were: (1) the remaining seven years of Shuchō [(686+7=692?)]; and (2) Taika, which was four years long [695-698]. (The first year of this era was kinoto-hitsuji [695].) ...In the third year of the Taka era [697], Empress Jitō yielded the throne to the Crown Prince."[3]
[edit] Consorts and Children
Bunin: Fujiwara no Miyako (藤原宮子) (?-754), daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito
- Prince Obito (首皇子) (Emperor Shōmu) (701-756)
Hin: Ki no Kamado-no-iratsume (紀竃門娘)
Hin: Ishikawa no Tone-no-iratsume (石川刀子娘)
- Prince Hironari (広成皇子)
- Prince Hiroyo (広世皇子)
[edit] References
- ^ Titsingh, Issac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 60-63; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 270-271; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. pp. 137-140.
- ^ Brown, pp. 264. [Up until the time of Emperor Jomei, the personal names of the emperors (their imina) were very long and people did not generally use them. The number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.]
- ^ a b c Brown, p. 270.
- ^ Varley, p. 138.
- ^ Titsingh, p. 60; Brown, p. 270; Varley, pp. 44, 137-138. [A distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fushimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of Go-Murakami.]
- ^ Varley, p. 140.
- ^ Brown, p. 266.
- ^ Brown, p. 271.
- ^ Titsingh, pp. 60-63; Brown, p. 271.
- ^ Titsingh, p. 60.
- Brown, Delmer and Ichiro Ishida, eds. (1979). [ Jien, c. 1220], Gukanshō; "The Future and the Past: a translation and study of the 'Gukanshō,' an interpretive history of Japan written in 1219" translated from the Japanese and edited by Delmer M. Brown & Ichirō Ishida. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03460-0
- Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés au comptoir hollandais de Nangasaki; ouvrage re., complété et cor. sur l'original japonais-chinois, accompagné de notes et précédé d'un Aperçu d'histoire mythologique du Japon, par M. J. Klaproth. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland....Click link for digitized, full-text copy of this book (in French)
- Varley, H. Paul , ed. (1980). [ Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359], Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley). New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04940-4
| Preceded by Empress Jitō |
Emperor of Japan: Mommu 697-707 |
Succeeded by Empress Gemmei |
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